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50 Dollars
| Issuer | Reserve Bank of Australia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1995-2016 |
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| Printer | Note Printing Australia, Melbourne, Australia (1998-date) |
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| Obverse description | The left portion carries a portrait vignette of David Unaipon (1872–1967), Ngarrindjeri preacher, inventor, and Australia's first published Aboriginal author, rendered against a yellow-gold guilloche underprint. Microprinted text along the lower field reproduces a passage from Unaipon's own writings affirming his identity as a full-blooded member of his people and his resolve to preserve Indigenous customs and beliefs. The denomination FIFTY DOLLARS and the issuing authority AUSTRALIA are applied in intaglio lettering over an intricate guilloche background. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The right portion of the note carries a portrait vignette of Edith Dircksey Cowan (1861–1932), the pioneering social reformer and first woman elected to an Australian parliament, set within a yellow-gold guilloche underprint. Architectural and symbolic motifs associated with her public life and advocacy complement the portrait, with the denomination and country name rendered in intaglio lettering. A transparent window with an integrated printed device, characteristic of Australian polymer issues, is incorporated into the substrate. |
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| Comments |
Australia's polymer banknote program began as a joint research effort between the Reserve Bank and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in the 1980s, with the $50 being one of the early denominations converted to the new substrate. The transition to polymer eliminated a well-documented counterfeiting problem that had plagued the paper series — the $50 was among the most frequently faked denominations in circulation during the late 1980s.
Brian Sadgrove's engraving work on this series is worth noting; he was one of the last classically trained intaglio engravers working within the Australian system before that craft largely gave way to digital reproduction techniques at Note Printing Australia.